Does Vistaprint Really Work?

Does Vistaprint Really Work?

Does it realy work?

If you’ve been online in the last decade you’ve probably seen an ad for Vistaprint. They’re the ones behind the “free business cards” advertisements that proliferate all across the Internet. Many people are aware that they’re not necessarily free, but do you actually get the cards if you go through with the offer?

Overview Business cards have long been thought of as a necessity for any owner or representative worth their salt. Some professions, like doctors, lawyers, and sales reps still rely heavily on the scant information provided by these tiny cards.

As the world gets more and more digital, the apparent need for business cards seems to be diminishing, but Vistaprint seems to still be thriving on an offer that seems as old as the Internet.

The Claim They are still promoting their FREE business cards, and now they even include a stamp with your information on it, just pay shipping and handling.

The Hype The hype is that they use the word free, even though you’ll be paying to have them shipped. Obviously we all know this is a classic gimmick for all sorts of products, and we’ve all gotten used to it. We know that nothing in life is truly free, and in this instance it’s easy to know that Vistaprint is not going broke giving away hundreds of free business cards.

They’ve obviously gotten their costs down so low that they can profit from sending out 250 business cards for the cost of shipping. They definitely don’t pay as much as much to ship the cards as you do to order them, so there is some profit margin, but it must be razor thin, and they try to make up for it with volume.

The Cost The cost of these “free” cards is just shipping. You can choose once you get there which package you want, and whether you want to enhance it with additional cards, or special upgrades. If you go with the basic offer you’ll get 250 cards for around $10 shipping.

The Commitment You have to spend the time to get the cards to look the way you want them to, and if you don’t have a creative bone in your body this can be rather difficult. You can pay more to have them design the cards for you, but that sort of defeats the purpose of getting low-cost business cards.

Evaluation Offering free business cards is a good ploy to get people to your website. You never quite know what people will buy in addition to free business cards, and it’s a great way to collect customer information to try to upsell them into other products or services.

By offering free business cards they are attracting a very specific clientele. They know that they will get customers that are small to medium sized business owners, or entrepreneurs that are just starting out with their first venture, and don’t have much start-up money.

Because they can profile with some accuracy the type of person that would take them up on their offer, they can taylor their other products to meet that specific demographic. Additionally, they can sell their customer lists to other, related businesses that can buy these leads and try to sell you on things like incorporating your business, or applying for business loans or credit cards.

Does Vistaprint Really Work?

If you discard the notion that they’re free business cards, and realize that you are in fact paying for the cards when you pay for shipping, then the product is actually pretty good.

You will get cards that are of decent quality for the money, and perhaps the best part is their design function that lets you customize the cards until they look the way you want. That way you won’t have some boring card to hand out to people that are interested in what you do.

When compared to non-free offers where you have to pay for shipping as well as the printing itself, the cards are of the same quality. They also measure up to the type of card you’d get locally at places like OfficeMax or Staples, without having to leave your home, and while having full control over the design.

Our Recommendation If you’ve made the determination that you need business cards for your particular line of work, and you’re just starting out, then Vistaprint is a relatively easy, cheap, and fast way to get your business cards.

In the Information Age, especially with social networking on the rise, fewer and fewer networking is happening in the real world, so you should seriously consider the need to have a physical business card. Focus your attention more on your online presence in the form of your own website or your social networking profile pages, and save things like business cards for when you make it big.

What do you think? Does Vistaprint really work?

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I’ve used vistaprint.com for as long as it’s been online. I was drawn in by the free 250 business cards. I mean who could resist FREE?! Yes, I had to pay shipping, but that was a steal. I used to work in a office supply store, and I know how expensive custom made business cards are. So that’s why I always go to vistaprint.com. I made my son’s lawnmowing company t-shirts, my daughter’s babysitting business cards, countless card, rack cards, postcards, brochures, etc for my business ventures over the past 12 years. I never go anywhere else, but vistaprint!

This is really quite simple: You get hundreds of business cards for around 10 bucks. If you have a business, or are promoting a website, blog, publication or freelancing service, you should spring for this deal. A local printer will charge you approximately double this price. I didn’t mind spending a little money on my cards. I got 500 instead of 250 and got printing on the back with a cool design that fits my business. I also found a coupon code by Googling it and saved even more money. I ended up with 500 business cards for a little over $20. Sweet! Like the guy in the commercial says, there’s not much else you can do from a marketing standpoint at that price. Just avoid all the other stuff on the site. You DO NOT need a mouse pad version of your business card!

A mouse pad version of the business card might not necessary but some of the other items can help your marketing efforts. I ordered stickers once and I really liked the results I got using them because the advantage with the stickers that I purchased is that I was able to place them in strategic places and they stayed there for a very long time.

Business cards are good for displaying in a business and to distribute but that’s not always enough. I’m happy that VP offers stickers because I never get business cards without getting stickers and most other printing company don’t even bother offering them.

I have ordered several items from Vistaprint and love the free promo items. The templates are pretty simple to use and to design the products. The only thing I wish they offered is bookmarks, but the closest I could get was rack cards. Not ideal for me, but they turned out great, and of course, the price was right. Definitely the way to go for business cards. Will be a long time customer.

My son turned us on to Vistaprint. He used it for his business, then my husband opened a business and we ordered his business cards at Vistaprint. It only cost us $10.00. There are no hidden fees that you think is coming when you check out. The designs are easy to use. It is great for any size business as you can order more than 250 cards. We won’t go anywhere else for our business cards.

VistaPrint is actually probably the cheapest for custom cards period. I have had three sets done for customers. The two that I actually saw the finish product (the other I had shipped straight to the client) were quite good. They were double sided cards and one of the sets may have been a little light on the blue color background on the back of the card, but not a deal breaker as the back of the card wasn’t coated.